“Who are you talking about?” Murphy demanded. “Is somebody bothering you?”
“Kind of,” I admitted. Then his eyes landed on the envelope in my hand and the very obvious North Crossing Narwhals letterhead they used.
I couldn’t help but feel like they did that on purpose.
As much as they were pretending to take this seriously, it felt like everything was a secret jab at my pack, and I wasn’t having that. They didn’t get to hold that power over us.
“It’s from the Narwhals,” Simms said, looking at me as if I’d betrayed them.
My stomach dipped at the thought. My brother stepped up to try to smooth things over, but it was time to let them in.
“They’re my exes,” I admitted before he could fight my battle for me.
“Now that she’s with us, they think they can win her back,” Lennon spit out.
They studied us for a minute before one of the other guys spoke up.
“You’re telling me,” Simms said carefully. “That these Narwhals arestalkingyou at this point? Now the fucking fighting makes so much sense.”
“The fight wasn’t even over the stalking,” my brother admitted. He looked at me, unsure what to say.
I no longer found the truth pathetic like I once did. It was never my fault. This was one hundred percent, on them.
“They left me alone for a week during my heat, and I almost died from it,” I said in a monotone voice.
It wasn’t my favorite memory, but if it would erase the tension between the guys, then I was fine with sharing it. The team was like family now.
“She’s not even exaggerating,” Conrad said, voice haunted like it was every time he thought about it.
Now the team was putting the pieces together.
“That week you had to miss?” Murphy questioned.
My brother nodded. “She called me when she came out of it. If she had waited or couldn’t reach the phone, the doctor said she would have died.”
An echo of growls went out, and tears burned in my eyes. I understood my pack standing up for me, but I truly hadn’t expected the team to as well. Not to this degree.
“Tell me you eventually beat their asses off the ice,” Murphy said, looking at my brother and pack.
“Oh yeah,” Mason grinned. “We tore into them and reminded them that if they tried to call the cops, we had plenty of evidence that she could charge them with neglect.”
“Neglect?” Murphy said, shaking his head. “That’s fucking horrible. I have a feeling there’s way more to the story, too. I’d never leave my omega when she was out of it like that. The AHA protects that.”
“There isn’t a single excuse for what they did,” Lennon agreed.
“You’re right about it being far more than a missed heat,” I said. “They barely came home in the last three years. I spent almost every day by myself, while they were handling their careers. Yet, they didn’t want me to work. There was always some excuse, made up event, or they had to do some team bonding bullshit.”
Murphy burst out laughing. “There’s no way. They’re fucking liars.”
Conrad agreed. “They were just so wrapped up in themselves they couldn’t see what they were losing.”
It didn’t matter anymore. As long as they left me alone, I’d return this letter to sender as soon as I got the chance.
Wilder
By the time Friday’s game rolled around, the team was back to its normal camaraderie. I was glad, because we’d been playing like shit and Coach was about to lose his mind.
At the end of the day, we were absolutely at fault. We knew it, owned it, but we weren't sure how to make it up to them.
